iOS 6 Maps is great, and it's not

Lex Friedman |
Sept. 21, 2012

In his iOS 6 review, Macworld senior editor Dan Moren praised its new Maps functionality. But there's been something of an online uproar from a vocal and unhappy percentage of iOS 6 early adopters who find themselves deeply disappointed by Apple's take on the newly Google-free Maps app.

Regardless of whether it's Apple's own code that needs fixing or its source data, the problem is Apple's either way. Unhappy users will continue to complain if iOS 6's Maps app doesn't meet their needs; if Google does indeed release its own iOS version of Maps, as has been heavily rumored, then Apple might find that its iOS users are jumping ship back to its rival.

We've known for months about some of the Maps app's limitations--its lack of built-in public transit data, the loss of Google's Street View offering--but the perceived weak spots in its coverage are new to consumers, and perhaps the most problematic failing of all.

Apple didn't respond to Macworld's request for comment about concerns surrounding the new app when this story was published. But users who find that the Maps app doesn't provide the data that Google once did can take at least some small comfort in the fact that Google's mobile site for maps--available at maps.google.com on your iPhone or iPad--reveals the same data from iOS 5, though without the obvious benefits of a native app.